Trust vs. Control

Being sick is a big problem.  There is a lot of fear involved. We are disconnected from nature and our bodies, which we no longer understand. We worry, our mind generates horrible scenarios.

We run to the doctor, we get a diagnosis but little hope, just more questions, more fears.

So we look into alternative medicine but it feels strange and intimidating. We feel isolated and confused. Our mind just spins and spins trying in vain to control the situation.And on it goes.

Alternative medicine offers new solutions but it also pushes us beyond our comfort zone. After all, none of the standard solutions worked. We need to look in places we have not thought of before.

The problem is that the rational mind questions everything and demands answers that fit into its own preconceived patterns and criteria. For healing to happen, we need to quiet this mind, the doubts and apprehensions, our natural tendency to shrink away from change.

Don’t Limit Yourself

People want to know beforehand HOW healing will proceed, what exactly will happen. They want to control the process by confining it to what their mind find acceptable. In other words, they want healing to happen on their terms. In doing so, they remain closed to a vast array of solutions not yet known to them.

Many lie awake at night agonizing over problems. They can’t  find a solution so they  believe none exists. Such thoughts already pre-determine their expectations so that when a new solution is offered, the mind will reject it due to its belief that no choice is possible.

This is a central problem with natural healing today, when the patient has a subconscious resistance to accepting any new solutions, once the mind has decided that none are possible.

Alternative vs. mainstream medicine

Some people come to alternative medicine as a last resort. Urged by a friend, they come to natural healing with little or no understanding. They hope for a miracle, one that happens in familiar ways and really quickly. Such demands inevitably end in disappointment.

People don’t question mainstream medicine as much as alternative therapies. We mostly have grown blind to the blunders of western medicine. At the same time the scientific innovations in alternative therapy are kept hidden from the majority of the population. No wonder there is such fear and ignorance about disease today.

Those who have explored alternative medicine know of its vast possibilities and its innovative nature.

Alternative medicine does not view disease as a physical process alone. It has always insisted on the higher purpose of disease as an agent of change. Illness is not a meaningless and random event, but part of an intelligent design meant to keep us strong and healthy.

Instead of trying to suppress all signs of illness, alternative therapy encourages a deeper exploration of the reasons why we are ill now and where our healing journey may take us. For healing to progress, body and soul have to be equally engaged in the process.

We Equate Disease With Symptoms

A symptom is a just signal, a wake-up call, a red flag. Its most basic purpose is to draw attention and shake us out of our ordinary stupor. The more it bothers us, the more we are pulled out of our everyday life again and again. Symptoms are also a warning to pay attention to the needs of our body so that we can correct mistakes and improve maintenance when that is needed.

Symptoms are the language of the body, an expression of its needs.

Deeper still, the derangement of our physical health is a result of changes happening on the psychic and spiritual level of our lives. By the time we feel anything is out of order, those changes have long begun to happen and there is no stopping them now.

Healing is a journey of self exploration and of discovery of what is being born in us. Once we learn to correctly interpret our symptoms, we will finally achieve the clarity and reassurance we all crave when we are feeling unwell.

Forward Is the Only Way

Since holistic medicine will not just heal the body, but will also bring change to the life of the patient on many more levels, most people are reluctant to go that far. They want relief without change, they want to go back to how things were, not realizing that in life one can only go forward and that change has already happened.

I see the following dynamic in many cases: there is usually a quick improvement of symptoms at first and the patient is happy and hopeful. Then as change progresses on deeper levels, an inner tension arises due to the lack of understanding of what is happening and a lack of desire to accept change in life. This comes out as complaints of constant symptoms that “don’t go away”.

A tug of war ensues: the remedies are pushing the patient forward by triggering renewal on many levels in the body and mind, but the subconscious mind fears change and is not ready to let go, so it resists the process. As a result, progress slows down and there is increased discomfort and anxiety.

Ultimately, the patient either leaves, to seek a therapy that will not cause much change, but will only alleviate somewhat the symptoms. Or, in the positive cases, the patient realizes the real purpose of the healing process and embraces change, no longer fearing the symptoms and quickly seeing improvement in more than one area.

The Need for Faith and Trust

Trust and faith are needed when you encounter new ideas and methods that you have not heard of before. After all, alternative therapy works precisely because it does not copy traditional medicine.

Almost all people who inspire us with the story of their lives and achievements, tell of hardship and pain, or extreme crisis and despair. And they all overcame this by pushing beyond the limitations of their mind and beliefs. They simply chose to have faith, to surrender and trust and to let go of all control. It was then that miracles were able to happen.

In the case of healing, faith in life and in our selves is of utmost importance. This is why most alternative therapies also contain a spiritual aspect. Without the power of faith, we remain bound to the limitations of our minds and of societal myths of what is possible and what is not. When we finally set those aside and become open to other possibilities, it is then that we finally step into a whole new world, one that always existed, but one that has to be discovered by us.